Alabama immigration law draws national reaction

Sen. Scott Beason R-Gardendale, left, listens as Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley speaks before signing into law what critics and supporters are calling the strongest bill in the nation cracking down on illegal immigration, on Thursday June 9, 2011, at the state Capitol in Montgomery, Ala. The bill allows police to arrest anyone suspected of being an illegal immigrant if they're stopped for any other reason. It also requires public schools to determine students' immigration status and makes it a crime to knowingly give an illegal immigrant a ride. (AP Photo/Montgomery Advertiser, Mickey Welsh)

Opponents of the new law say it will be costly to enforce, and some civil rights groups have said they plan to challenge the law in court. John Archibald of The Birmingham News is referring to the law as the "Beason Brown People Ban."

From the outside, looking in, many national news figures were quick to criticize the law, which goes into effect Sept. 1.

Forbes magazine contributor and economics professor Art Carden called the bill "unnecessary at best and almost certainly counterproductive."

"Governments might be able to 'solve' the immigration 'problem,'" Carden writes. "But only at enormous costs in terms of time, talent, treasure, and liberty."

Bloomberg published an editorial calling the nation's immigration policy "a mess of conflicting state and federal laws and policies, and often ignored in practice." The editors called on Barack Obama to lead the charge toward a unified, national immigration policy "that includes a strong enforcement provision, which is needed to ease the political pressure driving the state efforts, and a pathway to legalization, which is a necessary accommodation to realism, economic growth and the humane standards to which the U.S. adheres."

Mary Bauer, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center's immigrant justice project, appeared on CNN, calling the law racist and costly.

The New York Times' national immigration correspondent Julia Preston went on WNYC, calling the law the strictest in the country and discussing the school, lodging and ride-sharing provisions in the law.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach helped write the Alabama and Arizona immigration laws, and he praised the Alabama law, saying “Alabama is now the new No. 1 state for immigration enforcement.”

Kobach also appeared on Fox News with immigration attorney Alberto Cardenas and National Immigration Forum Executive Director Ali Nooran to discuss the Alabama law and immigration policy in general.